This week I travelled all the way from Ancient Greece, through 19th-century France to land smack bang in the middle of Olympic London 2012 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

The ROH’s The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games exhibition is a nice primer on the history of the games, followed by a just-what-I-wanted-to-see display of Olympic hardware in the form of torches, medals and select athletes’ memorabilia.

Beginning with the first Olympic Games almost 3,000 years ago, the show features sportily decorated Greek amphora dating from around 500BC, which inspires a cool animation of a chariot race. Moving on to Paris in the 1890s, we meet Pierre de Coubertin, whose vision of a civilising universal sporting event drove him, via the village of Much Wenlock in Shropshire, to create the modern Olympic Games. The first games of the modern Olympiad were held in Athens in 1896.

Following the history lesson, you get to see the Olympic Torches that were used for each games from Berlin 1936 onwards, accompanied by footage and diagrams of the most interesting torch routes. I found this bit unexpectedly moving, perhaps because it’s where local heroes and communities get directly involved in what is arguably the most â€œuniversalâ€ event that happens in our world to this day.

The final room shows a set of medals from every summer Olympics (confirming my suspicion that the London 2012 medals are huge – the biggest yet!). There’s also a display on the games throughout the years comprising personal memorabilia from 20 representative athletes, who demonstrate the values of the Olympic movement.

The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games is a great little exhibition. It’s free to enter and only takes about 45 mins to 1 hour to see. Plus there’s the opportunity to get your picture taken with the London 2012 torch – just be sure to grip it a little more firmly than I did (see above).

The Olympic Torch has arrived in London and is making its way around the city’s boroughs this week.

The torch landed at The Tower of London on Friday evening, delivered via helicopter by a Royal Marine Commando, Marine Martyn Williams. The soldier made a jaw-dropping 180ft abseil with the torch from the Royal Navy Sea King chopper at 20:12 hours, reflecting the year of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

London & Partners staffer Georgina Warren saw it from Potters Fields on the south side of the Thames: “Watching the Chinooks sweep across the London landscape and see the torch reach the Tower was a real goose bump moment. I hadn’t expected to feel part of the â€˜moment’, being across the river, but seeing the soldiers waving from inside the helicopters and the wave of emotion that hit as the crowds cheered them on suddenly made it all feel real, and made those watching feel part of what is about to happenâ€¦ one of those ‘I was there’ moments I can tell people about in the future.”

Let us know if you’ve seen the torch live in London in the comments below.

]]>http://blog.visitlondon.com/2012/07/olympic-torch-lands-in-london/feed/0London 2012 Olympic Flame to Appear in EastEndershttp://blog.visitlondon.com/2011/11/london-2012-olympic-flame-to-appear-in-eastenders/
http://blog.visitlondon.com/2011/11/london-2012-olympic-flame-to-appear-in-eastenders/#commentsTue, 15 Nov 2011 16:20:26 +0000http://blog.visitlondon.com/?p=23857The Olympic Flame will feature in British soap EastEnders on 23 July next year. Billy Mitchell will carry the flame through Walford, cheered on by the famous residents of Albert Square.

Regular viewers already know that Mitchell and Fat Boy have been nominated as Torchbearers. In tonight’s episode we’ll learn that the Torch Relay is coming to Walford, and in December Mitchell will find out that he’s been chosen to carry the flame.

In real life, the Torch Relay will travel through more than 1,000 villages, towns and cities in the UK and take in hundreds of landmarks before arriving in London for the start of the 2012 Games.

I went along to the East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf this lunchtime to see David Beckham unveil his nomination for an Olympic Torchbearer.

Gabriella Roseje is from Bermondsey in London, and has played sport all her life; more recently she’s started coaching others. She works with people from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them get into sport.

Beckham said, “Gabriella is an impressive and inspiring person. Not only is she successful in her own right, she willingly supports and helps those around her. I’m proud to nominate her as Samsung’s first Olympic Torchbearer. The nomination campaign aims to give the unsung heroes in communities across the world their chance to shine in the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. Gabriella is a perfect example of the kind of qualities we are looking for in a person to run with the Olympic Flame.”

Just 18 years old, it was clear Gabriella was both excited and overwhelmed at being nominated as this slightly fuzzy video shows:

Gabriella’s nomination means she’ll be one of the Samsung Torch Relay runners: the company is looking to recruit 1,359 more inspirational people to be part of the total 8,000 relay runners. If you want to nominate someone, or just find out more, visit www.samsung.com/uk/london2012

It’s 80cm high, made of aluminium and weighs just 800g, making it one of the lightest in the history of the Olympic Movement. The gold torch is perforated by 8,000 small cut-out circles, representing the 8,000 different Torchbearers and their stories of personal achievement.

The circular holes, which run the length of the torch, mean people can see right into the heart of the object – and they’re practical too, helping keep the torch cool.